Middle Orient

Senior Iraqi military commanders hosted their Russian, Iranian, and Syrian counterparts in Baghdad on Saturday to discuss security cooperation and information-sharing in the Middle East, where Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group continues to carry out attacks.

US-backed forces have repelled a raid by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group targeting barracks housing American and French troops in eastern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Aug. 18. The Syrian Democratic Forces and the US-led coalition supporting them were on high alert …

The U.S.-backed Syrian forces on Saturday took full control of a desert territory at the Iraqi border in northeastern Syria, local activists said Saturday. The border line with Iraq and Deir Ezzor desert are under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces, such a gain comes after weeks of major …

NATO’s highly-anticipated military-adviser mission in Iraq is slated to go operational by this fall, the head of U.S. Central Command said Thursday. Gen. Joseph Votel provided little detail as to how many NATO troops would be involved in the new training mission, which countries would be contributing troops to the …

On June 25, 2018, German-speaking jihadis in Syria released a five-minute video titled “A Call to Jihad” on a German-language Telegram channel. The video features two masked fighters in Syria, one of whom solicits funds for jihad in German and calls upon Muslims in the West to join them in …

On June 14, 2018, the Jordanian king swore in a new government after the previous government resigned due to extensive protests over its economic policy. A notable appointment was that of Jumana Ghunaimat, formerly the editor-in-chief of Jordan’s Al-Ghad daily, as state minister of media affairs and as government spokesperson.(by …

Iraqi warplanes targeted on Saturday a gathering of Islamic State militants in Diyala province, leaving three of them dead. Spokesman for the Iraqi Security Media Council Brig. Gen. Yehia Rasool said that “the Iraqi Air Force killed three IS terrorists and destroyed one of

Syria’s permanent representative to the UN, Dr. Bashar al-Jaafari said that Syria is determined to fight international terrorism on all its territories with its commitment to the political solution through Syrian-Syrian talks without any foreign intervention or preconditions.

Egypt President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi has affirmed that Egypt supports efforts to form a strong national Iraqi government that represents all Iraqis. During his meeting with Iraqi Vice President Ayad Allawi, Sisi welcomed political talks carried out by Iraqi blocs and stressed that Egypt backs any outcome.

Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign and Expatriates Minister Walid al-Moallem on Wednesday sent a letter to Iraqi counterpart Ibrahim al-Jaafari on increasing the efforts for reopening the border crossing between Syria and Iraq that connects the Syrian city of al-Boukamal and the Iraqi city of al-Qa’im.